Container combination



July 9, 1957 c. T. RIALL CONTAINER COMBINATION vFiled March 19, 1956INVENTOR. CHARLES 7.' RMLL,

l l', 4 /f f ATTORNEY 2,798,602 Patented July 9, 1957 CONTAINERCOMBINATION Charles T. Riall, Danbury, Coun., assignor to AmericanCyanamid Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Maine ApplicationMarch 19, 1956, Serial No. 572,312 Claims. (Cl. 206--63.3)

This invention relates to a combination of a container and a pluralityof running lengths of sutures or ligatures, the container being providedwith suitable marking indicia permitting the measuring of any desiredlength of suture.

Generally, sutures come packaged in several conventional types. ln oneof these, a continuous length of the suture is wound on a spool or reel.When a length of the suture is required, it isunwound from the spool andcut. While this type of package is designed to provide a long length ofthe strand, the strand will invariably be difficult to handle because ofcurling when it is taken from the spool or reel. Quite often there issome degree of kinking. Another disadvantage of this type of package isthat the length of strand desired is, at best, an approximation.

Another conventional type of suture package is that which containsprecut sutures of the same length. This type of package has obviousdisadvantages in that no provision is made for obtaining a suture of alonger length.

The present invention obviates the disadvantages of the prior methods ofpackaging sutures. It provides an elongated container which may be, forexample, a flattened paper tube of much greater length than the normallength of sutures desired. Within this tube or container a plurality ofsutures run substantially parallel to each other and are kept in suchparallel relation and, which is at least as important, are kept frombeing lcaught in the edges of the flattened tube or container. Thislatter feature is of vital importance because the normal way of making aflattened tube is of folded paper in which the sutures are placed andthe open edges then glued or fastened together. If the sutures are notheld at all times in a substantially parallel group out of contact withthe edges of a liattened tube, one or more sutures can be caught eitherin the narrow folded edge or, what is still worse, in the adhesive whichfastens the open edges. Such an occurrence destroys immediately theusefulness of the container because, when it is fcut to a suitablelength, it is not possible to withdraw the suture or sutures caught inthe flattened edges without excessive force, and so it is not possibleto withdraw one by one all of the sutures in the form of single,uncurled and unkinked lengths.

The container in the form of the flattened tube is marked with suitableindicia so that it may be cut to predetermined lengths and sutures ofany desirable predetermined length made available individually.

The present invention, which is limited to a container packagecontaining sutures or ligatures, should not be confused with other typesof containers which have been used, for example in the packaging ofexplosives, sausages, yarn and the like, where either the tube iscircular and not flattened or is filled with material such as explosive,which can be in contact with the whole of the inside surface of theilattened tube and which presents no problern of removing individualstrands of sutures which may be caught in the iiatten'ed edges of acontainer. Some such elongated containers have been marked with indiciapermitting the cuting off of predetermined lengths. They do not,however, present the problem which is presented with sutures which mustbe kept parallel, or substantially parallel, and which must bemaintained in spaced relation from the outer edges of thehtlattenedcontainer.

The concept of individual sutures maintained parallel requires someexplanation and limitation. In a long container which may be 50 or 100feet long, it is not necessary that the individual sutures be exactlyparallel throughy It is only necessary the full length of the totalcontainer. that they be kept parallel in any short portion thereof and,in fact, one of the best ways of keeping the sutures spaced from theiattened outer edges of the container is to give a twist to the parallelsutures every foot or so. Thus, any tendency for an individual suture tospring out to the edges is opposed. v p

The long, flattened container of the present invention is preferablypackaged in such a manner that it can be withdrawn. For example it maybe coiled in a coil in a box and pulled out through a slot, or it may befolded` in accordion pleats in a box, or any other means may be employedfor the dispensing of the container in any length which is desired.

The invention will be described in greater detail in the i drawings inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View, partially cut away, of the preferred formof the invention; i

Fig. 2 is a similar view of an alternative form of the invention;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged line A-A of Fig. l; and,

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view of an alternative construction ofthe container and its` enclosed strands.

Fig. l of the drawings shows a receptacle 1 in which a coil 10 of a fiattubular container is placed, the container passing out through thedispensing slot 2. The container itself as shown in Fig. 3 is formed oftwo strips 4 of material such as paper glued at each edge. Beforegluing, there is placed in the container a plurality of sutures shown at8 which are assembled in substantially parallel lengths and,particularly as shown in Fig. 3, the individual suture strands are notonly maintained parallel to each other but are also well-spaced from thetwo flattened edges of the container, which are shown fastened togetherwith adhesive 5. The spacing from the flattened edges is suilicientlygreat so that there is no danger of any strand accidentally catching inthe attened edges or coming in contact with the adhesive.

Along the length of the container 3 there are printed length marks orsimilar indicia at regularly spaced intervals shown at 9. Other printedmaterial which designates the name of the manufacturer, type ofmaterial, gauge of the suture and the like is shown on the container,and the labels themselves may be used as measuring indicia. In the caseof Figs. 1 and 3, they are 3 inches in length as shown at 12 withintermediate markings at 1 and 2 inches.

Figs. 2 and 4 show a slightly modified suture package in which thecontainer (Fig. 4) is formed of a single strip of paper 6 folded at 7and joined at only one of the longitudinal edges by adhesive 5 in thesame manner as the two edges of the container in Fig. 3. Instead of acoil of container in the receptacle, it is shown as folded at 11 in Fig.2 and is dispensed by pulling out at the top as illustrated. Fig. 2 alsoillustrates a typical method of insuring the substantial parallelism ofthe suture strands and their maintenance well-spaced from the flattenededges of the container. In the portion of the container suture packageembodying the sectional view taken along the l length'of'container, say18- inches.

shown broken away in Fig. 2, there is illustrated at 13 a twist of theparallel strands of sutures. Such a twist occurs at suitablepredetermined intervals and maintains sufficient, pull on the outersutures to prevent their springing out and sticking in the Frat-tenededges'.

Inq order tofillfust-rate various modifications ofY the invention in aminimum number of drawings, Fig. 1 shows the two-strip container in coilform, whereas Fig. 2 shows a folded single-strip container in a folderform. Obviously, ofcourse,eit-her type of container construction can beplaced in the receptacle in either coil or folded form. v

I-i1 use lthe surgeon withdraws a suitable predetermined A The containeristhen cutwit-h scissors arid holds the strands of sutures in such formthat they may be withdrawn individually without kinking, curling orpulling out their neighbors. Particularl-yfthere. is'no possibility ofsticking of a suture by becoming-wedged'or stuck in the attened edges ofthe container.

The container has been illustrated' as made up ofY paper, and lfory manypurposes Ythis is the preferred material as it can be used with suturesthat are to be dry-heat sterilized, it takes printing readily and it ischeap. However, the invention is ofcourse not limited to a suturepackage in which the container made ofpaper, and any other suitable filmor fabric may be used, such as regenerated cellulose film, commonly'sold as -Cellophane, cloth or plastics. Of course, where the suturesare to be sterile, the material of which` they container is made must becapable of withstanding the sterilizing operation.,

It will be noted from the drawings that the iiattened tubiular containerusedy in the present invention is relatively narrow, that is to say itstransverse dimension is orders of magnitude less than its total length.Also the sutures are only held by the slight pressure of the tiattenedtubular container and are not threaded through numerous holes orotherrestrictions so that after a portion ofthe.

container has been cut at a predetermined length, individual s uturestrands can be simply and rapidly removed 4 without the use of force.This is of vital importance because in the hospital operating room wherenormally sterile conditions. are vital',` sutures must be rapidly andindividually withdrawable. This result is achieved in the presentinvention by the combination of features described above.

In the drawings the flattened tubular container is shown as made ofpaper or similar material fastened at one or both edges with adhesives.Materials of this type are preferably fastened in such` a, manner butwhere plastics are used, which are either heat-scalable orpressure-sealable, the edge or edges to be sealedv may be formed eitherby heat 0r by pressure or both:v

The present invention is in part a continuation of my copendingapplication Serial No. 344,921, filed March 27, 1953, now abandoned.

I claim:

1. A suture package comprising` in combination a relatively narrowelongated attened tubular container, a plurality of running lengths ofsuture strands therein, said strands lying loose andA substantiallyparallel and spaced from the edges of' the iiattened container, thecontainer having imprintedA thereon indicia indicating predeterminedlengths whereby a series ofsuture strands of predetermined length can beobtained by cutting the` container at said length andY said suturestrands are individually removab'lefrom said cut length.

2-. A suture package according to claim l in which the elongated tubularcontainer is f ormed of two separate strips of material fastened' at theedges with adhesive.

3. A package according to claim 2 in which the container is formedofjpaper. i

4. A suture package according toy claim 1 in which the elongated tubularcontainer formed of a single, longitn dinally folded strip of material,the free edges of which are fastened by adhesive.

5. A package according to claim 4 in which the container is formedofjpaper. v

References Cited in the file ofj this patent- UNITED STATES PATENTS1,938,921) Marschall 1 Sept. 17, 1912 1,740,476, Qytschinni-koi:1 -nDec. 24, 1929 2,671,556, Caraway n Mar'. 9, 1954

